The Casting Couch
by Mansi jain
Summary: Draco goes for an audition in James's Magical Pin Productions & realizes that she can't get the role solely based on her talents. Disowned & pennyless, she has no other option but to accept. Harry comes to her rescue and starts falling for her. Then comes a time when he has to choose one of them. Will he choose his family and loved ones or Draco? HP/Fem!DM, James Potter Bashing AU


Warnings: An instance of assault. It starts with ** and ends with **. You can skip it if you want.

 ** _Chapter-1_**

 ** _Talent not enough_**

Seated on a plastic chair in a huge reception room, Draco's gaze is alternating between her watch and the door to James Potter's office. Potter's Magic Pin productions is one of the top production houses in wizarding Britain. She loathes his son but from what she has heard, the elder Potter is a good man and Draco is a good actress.

She hopes she gets a role in his upcoming movie. The audition starts in ten minutes. She was so nervous that she arrived an entire hour early. What little money mom gave her before father asked her to leave is running out. Acting wasn't her first choice of work but she only just graduated a year ago and was pursuing her potions mastery when father kicked her out. She needs money to study and has no source of income. This was the first thing that came to her mind. This is her seventh audition and she is frightened. James Potter detests father. She is afraid he will reject her as soon as his eyes fall upon her. She wishes she could just apologize for whatever father did to hurt him and she would if she knew what it was that father really did.

"Ms. Malfoy." A blank voice startles her out of her musings, "You're up."

Draco nods and stands up, wondering for the hundredth time if she is looking good. She straightens her skirt and runs her trembling fingers through her hair. Only when she is sure that she would not stumble out of sheer nervousness, does she start walking towards the office.

She knocks the door before opening it.

"May I come in, Mr. Potter?" She asks. The man is seated behind his desk. He looks up at her with slightly surprised eyes.

"Yes. Please come in Ms. Malfoy." He says after a few seconds. His voice is overly sweet and his eyes are gleaming with something Draco can't place. The office is quite spacious and beautiful. Behind Potter's chair, there is a large window that is currently covered by blue curtains. The walls are painted cream and the furniture consists of a table and a few chairs.

Draco turns around to close the door. But when she turns back around, she finds Mr. Potter gazing peculiarly at her. As soon as their eyes meet, the man blinks and smiles.

Abruptly, he pulls his chair back and gets up. Draco is so surprised that she takes a step back. Realizing her nervous movement, she breathes deeply and waits for Mr. Potter to say something.

She is in the middle of the room. He leans against the table and crosses his arms.

"What have you been working on Ms. Potter?" He asks.

Draco decides to answer honestly, "Father kicked me out when I refused to marry. I was studying for my potions mastery."

"Oh, then why are you here?" He asks.

She takes a deep breath and replies, "I like acting. I love films."

He looks silently at her. There is something in his gaze that she doesn't like. She can't exactly explain it but he is making her uncomfortable.

She swallows nervously. His eyes trace the movement.

He looks back into her eyes and murmurs, "Come here Ms. Malfoy."

Suddenly, she is terrified and she wants to leave. But she can't because she has no money and she can't go back home. She needs work desperately and this is the only thing she is good at besides potions.

Slowly and cautiously, she heads towards him. A bead of sweat trickles down her cheeks as she stops at a bit of distance from him.

"Come closer Ms. Malfoy." He says and Draco obliges him. She stops when she is standing close to him. She is standing too close for comfort but she has no other choice.

And then he does something that stuns her so much that she freezes. Whatever, she had expected, it wasn't this or maybe she had and she was fooling herself into believing something else.

He places his hands on either sides of her waist.

"What- what are you doing, Mr. Potter?" She asks.

"I need to check if you are fit for the lead role Ms. Malfoy." He lies.

Draco knows what's he doing. She had heard rumors but she hadn't experienced anything remotely close to this in her prior auditions.

She tries to back off by murmuring, "I'm sure that I'm fit, Mr. Potter."

However, he smiles at her and replies, "I would still like to check." and his hands run over her upper and lower back.

She places her hands on his and pushes him away forcibly right before the door opens. She swirls around, her eyes wide with terror and fists clenched tightly as she stares right into bright green eyes of Harry Potter.

XXXX

Harry whistles as he walks inside the building. He is happy that he has finally decided not to become an actor. It's nice to not be confused for once. He heads straight towards dad's office, ignoring the secretary's soft, "An audition is going on."

He will wait inside if that's the case. But when he opens the door and meets crazed eyes of Draco Malfoy, his feet freeze.

His eyes flicker from her to dad and then back. Dad's face is blank and he is too still and Malfoy is too terrified. He knows that Lucius kicked her out of his house but that doesn't explain why she is here or why she is so terrified.

Malfoy opens her mouth and mutters, "He-" just when dad says in a clear and loud voice, "You will be my lead actress, Ms. Malfoy." and Malfoy shuts her mouth, her gazing desperately eyes at him.

She takes a very deep breath and swallows a couple of times before murmuring, "Thank you Mr. Potter."

"Be here tomorrow at seven thirty."

He was here to reject dad's proposition. He didn't want to get into this industry even if it's intriguing but Harry knows that something is wrong and he makes a split second decision and mutters, "I'll take the lead role dad."

Dad's entire demeanor changes and Harry knows that dad is on the verge of blurting something out but then dad only breathes and nods.

"She is done, isn't she dad?" He asks sharply. Dad is a good man and he would never take advantage of someone and Harry trusts him implicitly but right now he just has a very strong feeling.

"Yes." Dad says blankly.

"I am taking Malfoy out. It's been a long while since we met." He answers, going by his instincts and looks at the said woman.

She looks so relieved that Harry's heartbeats quicken. What happened here just before Harry entered? Dad won't. Harry knows his father. Dad is not one those men. He won't. Maybe Malfoy misunderstood dad's intentions or maybe Harry misunderstood the entire situation. He will just clear the misunderstanding and reject the role like he had decided.

"I thought you hated her." Dad asks. He seems curious.

Harry rolls his eyes before muttering, "I am twenty two dad not ten. I didn't hate her then and I don't hate her now."

Dad nods and turns around to walk towards his chair and Malfoy practically flies out of the office. Harry has to place his left arm around her waist to prevent her from stumbling.

She pulls back after a couple of moments and Harry closes the door. He does notice that his father is watching the entire incident from the corner of his eyes.

"Let's go. There's a cafe nearby." He murmurs once she has calmed down.

She only nods and starts walking, her frightened eyes looking straight ahead.

XXXX


End file.
